† Criminal InJustice is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Criminal Injustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm.

Certainly, we have been concerned about the plethora of voter suppression efforts — legal and otherwise, but today CI is asking, simply, for breathing room..

Larger political climates create or constrict possibilities for social movements. Will there be space to push forward or will the only possibilities be survival mode??

Certainly this is true around any number of issues, but the challenges of confronting the prison industrial complex make it especially so. Both Democrats and Republicans are caught up in “law and order” rhetoric, but the one offers only darkness, the other some daylight.

The bill would establish the National Criminal Justice Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of all areas of the criminal justice system, including federal, state, local, and tribal governments’ criminal justice costs, practices, and policies.

The National Criminal Justice Commission Act directs the Commission to:

make findings regarding its review and recommendations for changes in oversight, policies, practices, and laws designed to prevent, deter, and reduce crime and violence, improve cost-effectiveness, and ensure the interests of justice;

conduct public hearings in various locations around the United States;

consult with federal, state, local, and tribal government and nongovernmental leaders and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including the U.S. Sentencing Commission; and

submit a final report, within 18 months after its formation, to Congress, the President, and state, local, and tribal governments, and make such report available to the public.

The Democracy Restoration Act (DRA) is federal legislation that seeks to restore voting rights in federal elections to the nearly 4 million disenfranchised Americans who have been released from prison and are living in the community. The bill was introduced by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI) as H.R 3335 and S. 1516 on July 24th, 2009.

What this bill will change:

Restore voting rights in federal elections to nearly 4 million Americans who are out of prison and living in the community.

Ensure that people on probation never lose their right to vote in federal elections.

Notify people about their right to vote in federal elections when they are leaving prison, sentenced to probation, or convicted of a misdemeanor.

Both bills represented — for the first time in decades — some meaningful chance to address the impact of mass incarceration.

Thanks for this Nancy. Breathing room is right. This election cycle has ignored so many key issues facing our country. To quote Lawrence O’Donnell, the media lacks the intellectual capacity and interest to address these core foundational issues.

RubySJones

My avatar is gone. sniff sniff

RubySJones

Hello all,

Some heartening news:

I just became a member of the “NY Data Team”. There was an hour training online. Now, this is the part that will make you happy— THERE WERE 280 PEOPLE IN THAT TRAINING!!! There were many more people than they expected. YAY!! YAY!! YAY!!